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Archive:Astrid
Background Astrid Clock was born thirty-six years ago in Boralus, Kul Tiras. The only child of Richard and Mary Clock she was doted on as a child. Her father, known widely in the Eastern Kingdoms for his work in engraving, was able to afford the best of educations for his daughter on the island. Astrid, herself, was always a quiet and bookish child, and she excelled in her studies (particularly art, and to this day she still considers herself an amateur sculptor), but tended towards a more reclusive stance in regards to her peers. In that sense, she was often in conflict with her vivacious mother, and that tension would remain until her father's death a few years ago. The two have since patched up their relationship, and Astrid frequently writes to her mother. Upon completing her education Astrid discovered that, as a commoner, her options were limited in her homeland. Kul Tiras, while boasting a fine naval and merchant tradition, lacked in the artistic pursuits the young woman craved. Through her father's help, however, she managed to land a prestigious position with the Church of Light in Lordaeron, restoring and studying the religious icons of the Church itself. Her life might have continued along this course, but her work brought her into frequent contact with the movers and shakers within the Church of Light. Never a woman of strong faith, Astrid nevertheless found herself dazzled both by the rituals and steadfastness of the Knights of the Silver Hand. This enthrallment was aided deeply by the first serious relationship of her adulthood with a young Knight named Arthur de May. The two, for many years, would be inseparable. With Arthur, Astrid began to take an interest in the Knights as a practical advancement in her career. Joining their ranks would allow her greater access and increased pull with the church's bureaucracy. In truth, while she could breeze through the intellectual requirements of membership, she was almost beyond reach in the area of combat. Eventually, after several months of working with her, Arthur played off of the girl's natural agility, and she passed her examinations by the skin of her teeth. She still bitterly remembers the drudging several instructors inflicted on her during the course of the trials. Astrid's induction into the Knights was largely ceremonial. She rarely donned the armor and warhammer of the order, and only then when necessary. Her and Arthur would eventually marry, and while he was rotated into the field she rarely left Lordaeron itself. This changed when the Orcs jumped their refugee camps and Durnholde was destroyed by the new Warchief, Thrall. Many of the Knights were pressed into service, and Astrid was no exception. With her husband, she joined the lengthy cavalry trains as they struggled to pin in the renegade Orcs and return them to their camps. Ever the scholar, she evolved a grudging respect for the green skinned creatures, believing that their society, though primitive and obsessed with honor, was, at its very core, noble and generous. Like many humans, she has had a hard time seeing beyond the destruction of the Second War, but she has been willing to grant that the Orcs deserve a second chance. Her time in the field honed the combat skills she had acquired, and she walked away with a pair of kills during the conflict. However, the Alliance military was unable to recapture the Orcs, and what little they did see were small bands of the creatures. In the end, many of the Knights and officers responsible were rotated off the front lines in disgrace. Arthur and Astrid were counted amongst their numbers. Until the outbreak of the Plague Astrid would return to her art and studies, humiliated. The outbreak of the Plague turned her world upside down. Arthur went missing in the opening days of the conflict in the North, and Astrid barely escaped the city proper when the Plague erupted in the streets of Lordaeron. Like so many of her brethren, she chose to head south towards Hillsbrad, moving with and guarding the long train of refugees fleeing the northern kingdom. It would take many months for her to hear word of Arther's fall at the hands of the Scourge, and even then she had suspected the worse for quite some time. Eventually, after emerging from her mourning, she had a simple grave constructed in the Southshore cemetery. It has become a place she regularly frequents to remember the love of her life. In the final days of the Third War Astrid joined with several scholars in hopes of preserving what was lsot in Lordaeron. In the ensuing years she and her colleagues have learned that many churchman secreted away much of the Church's works, and they have taken it upon themselves to recover and funnel these works back to safety in the south. It is only with the reformation of the Knights under the Argent Crusade's banner that Astrid has considered taking up her old occupation.... Category:Archived Characters